We must do more for our ‘little blue dot'

Bruce BensonT-N Columnist

Published: Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, March 8, 2013 at 2:21 p.m.

I am an environmentalist, and I make no apologies for it. In fact, I think everyone on Earth should be an environmentalist because we all have an effect on this very small planet we live on. Everything we do matters.

Facts

Bruce Benson is a Canadian writer and journalist who makes Hendersonville his winter home. Reach him at bensonusa@hotmail.com.

In the movie "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore showed us an image of a pale blue dot, a photo taken of Earth by Voyager 1 from 4 billion miles away. It is barely visible in the vastness of space. He points out that all of human history has happened on that tiny blue dot, our only home.

The movie makes several salient points about what we, as a species, are doing to damage our little blue dot, and also makes a call for action — from governments and individuals. Certainly never before have we had the capacity to change our environment. A case in point: the Three Gorges Dam in China.

Crossing the Yangtze River in Hubei province, China, the Three Gorges Dam will raise 90 trillion pounds of water 175 meters above sea level and will have the effect of slowing the rotation of the Earth. Simply by redirecting water, the movement of the planet will change. The dam has also been blamed for earthquakes, which in their turn also affect the rotation of the Earth. A gift that keeps on giving, this dam.

Being an environmentalist can sometimes be conflicting. How can anyone condemn the actions of the Chinese in building this dam? The renewable hydro-electric power it creates will replace millions of tons of coal burning night and day, making the air toxic and almost unbreathable. That air is on our little blue dot, so it affects all of us. The Earth is warming, greenhouse gases are causing it, and burning coal creates greenhouse gases. We're doing it to ourselves.

Ten-thousand years ago, as the last ice age was ending, I'm sure the ice age inhabitants on Earth weren't blaming themselves for climate change. I'm sure they thought the Earth to be infinite and merely a place to fight for existence — food, shelter and the like. I'm sure they, all 5 million of them, had no dreams of building anything on the scale of the Three Gorges Dam, or fracking for natural gas in Ohio. I'm sure they didn't drill 5 miles beneath the ocean floor to access oil and gas. There would be no Gulf oil spill disasters on their hands.

Ice age folks would be hard-pressed to detonate nuclear weapons, or develop biological warfare or the vast array of poisons we now have on Earth, courtesy of the modern human.

To the 5 million people alive at that time, the Earth was a vast place, but now, for the 7 billion of us, it has shrunk considerably.

International Space Station astronaut Chris Hadfield recently collaborated with the rock band Barenaked Ladies to record a song — he in space, the band on Earth. It's the first such collaboration ever and can be seen by searching "Is Somebody Singing" (the title of the song) on YouTube. It's a beautiful and inspirational song, and I highly recommend viewing it.

Looking back on the Earth, Hadfield reflects: "There goes home; That ball of shiny blue; Houses everybody anybody ever knew ... Just a spinning ball within a tiny atmosphere."

Hadfield and others in the International Space Station go around the Earth, home to every human ever born, 16 times a day. This is a tiny planet, and everything we do on it matters. Everything.

Sometimes being an environmentalist means having to say you were wrong. When biofuels first came on the scene, I was all for them. We know we will eventually run out of oil and gas, but corn, we grow a new crop every year. Not a bad thing by itself, but billions of people live on this blue dot on less than a dollar a day. The combination of increased demand for what some call biofuels and the starving masses call food meant an unaffordable increase in the cost to stay alive. Biofuels are not the answer because people are starving.

Some people take advantage of the environmental movement and use it for personal gain. But do I care if the creator of a fantastic new source of clean energy gets rich while saving the planet? Or if Al Gore made millions on his movie? Or the makers of windmills turn a profit and take subsidies from the government? No, I do not. Gore made a lot less on "An Inconvenient Truth" than Michael Jordan did shooting a ball through a basket. Who affected my life more?

Being an environmentalist means accepting the inconvenient, uncomfortable, sometimes painful, costly and challenging truth — everything we do matters. Including every can and bottle we use every day. So, to come home from circling the Earth every day, I would like to propose a deposit program on all recyclable containers in the state of North Carolina. The program would not be expensive, as the deposit on each item needs to be paid only once, and then it's recirculated. Hopefully, this would make the myriad bottles and cans in our roads and ditches more tempting to pick up.

It's a small step, but we're on a small planet, and everything we do matters.

Bruce Benson is a Canadian writer and journalist who makes Hendersonville his winter home. Reach him at bensonusa@ hotmail.com.

<p>I am an environmentalist, and I make no apologies for it. In fact, I think everyone on Earth should be an environmentalist because we all have an effect on this very small planet we live on. Everything we do matters.</p><p>In the movie "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore showed us an image of a pale blue dot, a photo taken of Earth by Voyager 1 from 4 billion miles away. It is barely visible in the vastness of space. He points out that all of human history has happened on that tiny blue dot, our only home.</p><p>The movie makes several salient points about what we, as a species, are doing to damage our little blue dot, and also makes a call for action — from governments and individuals. Certainly never before have we had the capacity to change our environment. A case in point: the Three Gorges Dam in China.</p><p>Crossing the Yangtze River in Hubei province, China, the Three Gorges Dam will raise 90 trillion pounds of water 175 meters above sea level and will have the effect of slowing the rotation of the Earth. Simply by redirecting water, the movement of the planet will change. The dam has also been blamed for earthquakes, which in their turn also affect the rotation of the Earth. A gift that keeps on giving, this dam.</p><p>Being an environmentalist can sometimes be conflicting. How can anyone condemn the actions of the Chinese in building this dam? The renewable hydro-electric power it creates will replace millions of tons of coal burning night and day, making the air toxic and almost unbreathable. That air is on our little blue dot, so it affects all of us. The Earth is warming, greenhouse gases are causing it, and burning coal creates greenhouse gases. We're doing it to ourselves.</p><p>Ten-thousand years ago, as the last ice age was ending, I'm sure the ice age inhabitants on Earth weren't blaming themselves for climate change. I'm sure they thought the Earth to be infinite and merely a place to fight for existence — food, shelter and the like. I'm sure they, all 5 million of them, had no dreams of building anything on the scale of the Three Gorges Dam, or fracking for natural gas in Ohio. I'm sure they didn't drill 5 miles beneath the ocean floor to access oil and gas. There would be no Gulf oil spill disasters on their hands. </p><p>Ice age folks would be hard-pressed to detonate nuclear weapons, or develop biological warfare or the vast array of poisons we now have on Earth, courtesy of the modern human.</p><p>To the 5 million people alive at that time, the Earth was a vast place, but now, for the 7 billion of us, it has shrunk considerably.</p><p>International Space Station astronaut Chris Hadfield recently collaborated with the rock band Barenaked Ladies to record a song — he in space, the band on Earth. It's the first such collaboration ever and can be seen by searching "Is Somebody Singing" (the title of the song) on YouTube. It's a beautiful and inspirational song, and I highly recommend viewing it.</p><p>Looking back on the Earth, Hadfield reflects: "There goes home; That ball of shiny blue; Houses everybody anybody ever knew ... Just a spinning ball within a tiny atmosphere."</p><p>Hadfield and others in the International Space Station go around the Earth, home to every human ever born, 16 times a day. This is a tiny planet, and everything we do on it matters. Everything.</p><p>Sometimes being an environmentalist means having to say you were wrong. When biofuels first came on the scene, I was all for them. We know we will eventually run out of oil and gas, but corn, we grow a new crop every year. Not a bad thing by itself, but billions of people live on this blue dot on less than a dollar a day. The combination of increased demand for what some call biofuels and the starving masses call food meant an unaffordable increase in the cost to stay alive. Biofuels are not the answer because people are starving.</p><p>Some people take advantage of the environmental movement and use it for personal gain. But do I care if the creator of a fantastic new source of clean energy gets rich while saving the planet? Or if Al Gore made millions on his movie? Or the makers of windmills turn a profit and take subsidies from the government? No, I do not. Gore made a lot less on "An Inconvenient Truth" than Michael Jordan did shooting a ball through a basket. Who affected my life more?</p><p>Being an environmentalist means accepting the inconvenient, uncomfortable, sometimes painful, costly and challenging truth — everything we do matters. Including every can and bottle we use every day. So, to come home from circling the Earth every day, I would like to propose a deposit program on all recyclable containers in the state of North Carolina. The program would not be expensive, as the deposit on each item needs to be paid only once, and then it's recirculated. Hopefully, this would make the myriad bottles and cans in our roads and ditches more tempting to pick up.</p><p>It's a small step, but we're on a small planet, and everything we do matters.</p><p>Bruce Benson is a Canadian writer and journalist who makes Hendersonville his winter home. Reach him at bensonusa@ hotmail.com.</p>